This isn’t just dog-whistle politics, it is politics of the gutter - Carwyn Jones

posted by Huw Richard Price | 114pc
October 05, 2016

Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones has today written to Labour Party members and supporters in Wales about Tory plans on immigration announced at their annual conference in Birmingham this week.

Full text of the email:

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you with a message I never thought I would need to communicate in 2016, and that is to say that there will be no “go home” message to foreign doctors in Wales. There will be no lists of foreign workers in Welsh businesses. We will also fight against proposals to shut the doors of our universities to the brightest and the best from around the world.

The content and tone of the announcements made in the Tory Conference have been disturbing, sinister and beneath contempt. This isn’t just dog-whistle politics, it is politics of the gutter.

Brexit is a seismic and unsettling event in our country’s history, and how we react to it will be the measure of this generation of politicians and political parties. I have made absolutely clear my belief that Wales must accept the referendum result, we cannot refight that battle, but we can fight for our vision of the future. A bright future for our children and grandchildren, based on our values of fairness, internationalism and prosperity for all. The announcements coming from the Tories this week show just how vital it is that we win that fight – it is a fight for the soul of post-Brexit Britain, and we cannot allow these hardliners a free run in that contest.

When senior Tories said yesterday that foreign doctors and their families were only welcome here whilst they were needed, I said they are welcome full stop. We must reject the Tories’ terrible insult to people who work day in, day out to save and improve lives across Wales. What a terrible message to suggest that some people in our NHS, in our communities, are worth more than others.

This is where the Conservative Party have chosen to make their pitch – it is incumbent on all of us as Welsh Labour party members to be the roadblock to their plans. To show there is a better way.